Enermax Revolution SFX 650W Power Supply Review

The small form factor segment has been hot for a while now when it comes to enthusiast PC builders and Enermax is entering the SFX fray today with the Revolution SFX 650W PSU. It touts fanless modes under 30% load, 100% Japanese capacitors, and complete flat flexible cables for easier routing in tight cases.

Introduction

Enermax Technology Corporation is a company that is well known in the world of power supplies and general computing alike. Founded in 1990, Enermax has made a name for itself by providing solid performing power supplies, among other computer components, cases, and accessories. Enermax' current lines of power supplies encompass a wide range of products targeted at various market segments including the Platimax, MaxRevo, RevolutionX't, Triathlor FC, Triathlor ECO, NAXN ADV, and NAXN series. In addition to being a retail presence with its Enermax brand power supplies, Enermax Technology Corporation used to be one of the few true OEM designers of power supplies. Its power supplies however, only rarely showed up under other labels including Grow Up Japan, Sapphire, and its house brand Lepa with that time of independent design and production seeming to have passed. Today, we are looking at the new Enermax Revolution SFX 650W (ERV650SWT) which comes to us from CWT.

Channel Well Technology (CWT) was founded and began manufacturing power supplies in 1993. Since 1993 Channel Well Technology products have shown up under various guises including Antec, Xclio, 2theMax, CWT, Thermaltake, Xigmatek, and Corsair. While most familiar to our US users from when they used to provide OEM services for Antec, CWT is one of the more complete OEM manufacturers as they have a fairly high level of vertical integration providing transformers all the way up to its well designed independently regulated SMPS. However, CWT has been stretching out over the last few years and they are providing OEM services for a number of brands as today’s unit demonstrates.

A Small Revolution in the Making?

Over the years, we have reviewed 23 previous Enermax power supplies. However, until today, we have not seen any SFX formfactor units from Enermax. This is a bit surprising, to some extent, as Enermax is one of those classic names in the enthusiast realm when people look for power supplies. Perhaps Enermax thought the SFX market wasn't as big as it is? Or, perhaps, Enermax simply didn't want to put out a product that was going to be playing second fiddle to someone else? Certainly, we're going to hope it is that second option and, given Enermax's record, that seems like a more than possible reason. However, before we head off too far down that wishful path let's see what Enermax has to say about this unit:

Full Modular and SFX-to-ATX PSU Adapter Bracket Offer More Options

Full modular design with 100% flexible flat cables facilitates cable management, avoiding annoying clutter especially in a small case like Mini-ITX. Furthermore, through the included SFX-to-ATX bracket, it’s workable to install the PSU in Micro-ATX or ATX cases as well. Undoubtedly, users can make ultra compact but powerful PC builds with more flexibility with REVOLUTION SFX.

Quieter Cooling Performance with Smart Semi-fanless Control

Noise is an obvious issue in using a SFX form factor PSU due to its much smaller dimensions than an ATX model and the required higher fan speed that follows. To solve the problem, REVOLUTION SFX is equipped smart semi-fanless control. Before reaching 30% of system load, REVOLUTION SFX is in fanless mode and its fan does not spin at all, meaning absolute silence under idle or ordinary working conditions. On the other hand, when system load exceeds 30%, the fan starts to spin and sufficient cooling is ensured by the thermal control system / programmer.

Highest Reliability and Compatibility

Quality Japanese electrolytic capacitors are being used in REVOLUTION SFX and no exception; all of them can handle an ambient temperature of 105آ°C. In addition, DC to DC converter circuit makes sure the main output voltages are consistently stable - this is a critical factor in supporting the extremely low power consumption of the present CPUs at specific power efficient status. Moreover, with the single rail +12V design, REVOLUTION SFX can easily take care of the high-end graphics cards nowadays. And last, but no least, a comprehensive circuit of OPP, OVP, UVP, OCP (+3.3V/+5V), OTP, SCP & SIP helps keep your system safe.

80 PLUS Gold Efficiency and Energy-Saving Design

REVOLUTION SFX complies with 80 PLUS Gold standards and meets 2013 ErP Lot 6 regulations. Up to 92% efficiency in operation and less than 0.5W power consumption in standby mode greatly help conserve energy as soon as the unit is switched on.

With that wonderfully long bit of marketing out of the way, let's take a look at what we get when we purchase the Enermax Revolution SFX 650W power supply in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.